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B&B's Rick on a Roll

BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL's Rick has been faking paralysis and plotting his half brother's downfall, so his portrayer, Kyle Lowder, has hit the ground running.

Soap Opera Weekly: The show has just been a lot of fun lately, especially with Rick's machinations against Ridge and Brooke.

Kyle Lowder: Thank you. I'm very happy. From my end, I know the dialogue and do my part, but it's really cool to see how it all comes together with the director. I don't know how it's going to look until I watch it. I'm very proud of the show right now. I'm always proud of it, but the way that everyone's been really stepping up — all the actors, the directors, everyone at hand — the show looks great. I'm not just talking about my scenes; I'm talking about everyone. The stuff with Pam and Donna and that storyline was really cool to watch.

Weekly: Rick really thinks he has everyone where he wants them and is sitting pretty.

Lowder: Oh, yeah, he thinks he is. I know a lot of people are looking at this story and saying, "I can't stand Rick; he's so whiny, he's so bratty." It's too easy for people to see him being whiny and bratty and trying to manipulate to get what he wants. I want people to be reminded that, in Rick's head, this is [from] a lifetime of pain and suffering. I'm not saying it's justified; I'm saying that it goes deeper. I want people to try and look deeper as to why Rick is doing this. It's not just a little brat trying to get what he wants. This is an adult who is really trying to ostracize Ridge from the family, from the company, from everything. He's not just trying to break up his mommy and a guy he hates. I am not defending him, but everything he is doing right now is to try and get Ridge ostracized.

Weekly: So, basically, Rick feels justified, even if we don't necessarily agree with his motives.

Lowder: He has that line to people; he says everyone has given Ridge a pass his entire life. He can traipse around from woman to woman and hurt people, and do this and do that, and everybody just forgives him because he's Ridge and he's the golden boy. Rick is like, "It is time that people see him for what he really is." Or at least how Rick sees him, and that's Rick's mission right now. What we are going to see in the next month or two are the many different ways in which Rick is doing that.

Weekly: Do you feel like this gives Rick more depth, more layers for you to play?

Lowder: It gives me an opportunity to give Rick more depth as a human being. I don't want to say the character has ever been boring, because that's not true. I mean that I want to make him more interesting. I don't want to make him a two-dimensional character. I want to make this a person that people can see all different sides of. They can say that he's a charming guy, that he's a nice guy [who] has a passionate love for his family and women, but that he also can get angry like human beings can. I want to show how smart he is, and the story is giving me an opportunity to do that. It's a good thing for me as an actor to do. It's also good for Rick, the character.